


Frostbite

by sunrise_and_death



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Skiing, more oblique communication than i usually write, no actual frostbite, the Foxes go on their ski trip, varying ideas about romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 14:43:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12937476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunrise_and_death/pseuds/sunrise_and_death
Summary: Neil stared dubiously down the hill. He had no clue why people enjoyed this.Or, the Foxes go on their ski tip.





	Frostbite

**Author's Note:**

> Written for deceitofstars for the AFTG Winter Exchange 2017 for the prompt "they all go on a skiing holiday." I hope you enjoy!

The experience was a little like having cement blocks tied to his feet, Neil imagined. His father had never used that particular method of body disposal—Lola didn’t believe in leaving bodies whole—but the association didn’t make Neil feel any better. There was no way he could easily run if necessary, plus the entire activity risked gruesome injury and death.

Kevin was compulsively clenching and unclenching his left hand, but his jaw firmed up as they waited in line, slowly shuffling forward. Neil looked down at his feet. If _Kevin_ was brave enough to do it, Neil wasn’t going to back down. Even if the stupid sticks kept causing him to slide backwards.

Matt turned over his shoulder to grin at Neil, nose dark with the cold. “Make sure and get in order, you three,” he said. “You want to be ready when you get to the marker.”

Neil was pretty sure if he tried to move any direction except forward gravity would begin pulling him inevitably back. “I think we’re good,” he told Matt. Andrew and Kevin didn’t raise any objections, so Neil resigned himself to being stuck in the middle of them for the entire ride. It probably wasn’t a good idea to have three most apprehensive people on the same chair, but Neil was equally positive that Andrew wouldn’t allow Neil and Kevin to go off without him on this first attempt. Besides, to anyone besides Neil, Andrew looked as apathetic as ever.

Dan, Renee, and Allison were giggling as they got into position, which turned to outright laughter as the chair hit their thighs, forcing them to sit down before it swept them off into the air. Aaron made for an amusing sight sandwiched between Nicky and Matt, but Neil couldn’t find any real humor in it because he was too busy clutching his poles as he awkwardly maneuvered up behind them.

Neil wished he could clutch an armrest like Andrew and Kevin when the chair smacked into them and soared off over the snow. Instead, he curled his fingers around the bottom of the seat and leaned back like that would stop the weight of his skis from dragging him off the lift.

People were zooming down the slopes below them. Neil shifted slightly closer to Andrew. “The ski instructor said that you get used to the lifts pretty quickly.” Now that he was on one, he doubted it even more than before.

Andrew’s fingers were encased in black gloves, but Neil was sure the knuckles were white underneath. “Shut up,” he said, staring expressionlessly down at the white hill beneath them.

Neil tried kicking his legs slightly. He stopped, alarmed, when the chair rocked beneath him. “I wonder how many people fall off these things,” he said.

“Not a problem for you. I will _push_ you off.”

“Those skis would make it pretty easy to pull you down with me.”

“Stop that,” Kevin hissed. “We’re coming up on the exit.”

The tiny heap of packed snow at the top of the slope didn’t look too stable. “Maybe I’ll just stay on the lift,” Neil said, stomach queasy. “It loops back around to the bottom, right?”

“I’ll stay with you,” Kevin said.

In the end, they didn’t really have a choice. Andrew shoved them both out as soon as their skis touched the ground. But Neil noticed he didn’t get off himself until the very last moment.

“Do people really do this for fun?” Neil asked Allison.

She tossed her head back and laughed, blonde curls bouncing beneath her stylish beanie. “Wait until you’ve actually _skied_ , kid.”

Neil stared dubiously down the hill. He had no clue why people enjoyed this.

 

* * *

 

By the time he got to the bottom again, his cheeks felt blistered by the wind and he couldn’t stop grinning. Matt slammed playfully into him as he came to a stop and flung an arm around his shoulders. “So, how’d you like it?” he asked.

Neil had never gone that fast on his own two feet. He’d bulleted down the hill, not bothering with any of the turns the instructor had taught them. He’d skied like Andrew drove his car.

“It was _brilliant_ ,” he told Matt.

Matt ruffled his hair. “Thought you might say that,” he said. “Wanna go again?”

 

* * *

 

Neil stayed on the slopes until the end of the day. Despite the fact that he’d trained and run practically every day for the past two years, his thighs and hips were sore from the new sport. Midway through the day, Matt and Allison had begun to teach him what they’d termed “real skiing,” which had involved a lot of tight, speedy turns and absolutely no breaking. Andrew had taken one look at it and promptly headed back to the lodge, trailed by Kevin.

“Are we going to do dinner all together?” he asked Matt as they stood near the entrance to the lodge, taking off their skis. His pole kept slipping as he tried to jab the ski’s latch with it.

Matt leaned over and dealt with both of Neil’s skis with an ease that spoke of years of practice. “Dan and I are going to do our own thing, I think,” he said. “We kind of wanted to, y’know, have some time together, just the two of us.” He blushed a little as he spoke, ducking his head.

“Aww,” Allison cooed, “that’s adorable.” Her skis were already paired and leaning against the side of the lodge. Her hair was somehow still immaculate. “Renee and I are going to the spa. I booked us massages and mani-pedis.” She smirked at Neil. “Want to come with?”

“I’ll pass,” he said dryly. With the upperclassmen all busy, it would be him, Kevin, and the cousins again, just like Friday outings to Eden’s Twilight and Columbia. Neil hoped Nicky wasn’t planning anything like that. “Have fun.”

“Thanks,” Matt said, and showed him how to carry his skis back to their rental locker. When Neil hoisted the skis up on his shoulder, Matt grinned at him. “Maybe you and Andrew can do something too. I bet Aaron and Nicky will be busy talking to Katelyn and Erik, and Kevin’s probably already doing something Exy-related. You guys could make a date out of it.”

Neil had been hearing a lot of comments like that recently. He had a feeling there was another bet going about his relationship with Andrew, although he couldn’t guess what or why. Either way, he just shrugged and shuffled towards the locker.

Behind him, Allison sighed deeply. “I swear, Kevin and his racquet are more romantic than you two.”

“Probably,” Neil agreed. Given Allison’s ideas about romance, it was most likely true.

 

* * *

 

Matt ended up being right. When Neil pushed open the door to their suite, he could hear Nicky chatting away with Erik on Skype in his and Aaron’s room, and Kevin was glued to his computer, rewatching the Trojans last game with his phone in hand. Aaron was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn’t a surprise; even now, he tried to avoid talking to Katelyn near Andrew.

Neil shed his wet jacket and gloves in the tile entryway, then slipped into his room. He could barely see Andrew’s head above the pile of blankets their bed had turned into. A book served to obscure what little of his face was uncovered.

When Neil started pulling out fresh clothes to change into, Andrew lowered the book enough to look at him over it. “Does Exy know you’ve been cheating on it?” he asked.

The clothes were warm because his duffle was right next to the heating vent. Neil happily slipped into his new things. “I like it,” he answered. “It’s fast. But it’s not Exy.”

“Kevin’s outside if you want to get your fix.”

Neil grabbed one of Andrew’s black hoodies and pulled it on as he crossed over to the bed. He twitched the blankets down slightly. “Kevin’s texting Thea,” he said. “Which means he’s going to be twice as obnoxious. Besides, Matt said we should go on a date.”

The book came entirely down, so Neil could get the full view of Andrew’s unimpressed expression. It was a little hindered by the wayward tufts of his bedhead. Neil looked at his feet to hide a smile.

He tried a different tactic. “Did you know that they have a cafe here on the top floor that serves dinner? Apparently, it has a really good view of the mountain.”

Andrew stared at him a moment longer, then grudgingly pushed the blankets off and crawled out from underneath them. “They better have ice cream,” he said.

  

* * *

 

 

Servers never really knew how to deal with them. Andrew tended to ignore them entirely, and Neil’s scars put most people off. This waitress was no different, but at least she left quickly.

They were seated right by the window, and Andrew kept staring out at the ski slope, illuminated by bright fluorescent beams of light. Neil rubbed his hands together; his fingers still hadn’t quite thawed. He was tempted to blow on them.

When Andrew looked over, Neil shrugged. “I’m still cold.”

Andrew turned back to the window. “What did you think would happen?”

“I felt warm when I was out there.” He’d been sweating under his layers, actually. Skiing was a lot of work. He’d only noticed the chill in his fingers after he’d gotten back to the lodge. He should have run them under warm water back in the suite, but he hadn’t thought about it.

Still staring out at the snow, Andrew placed his right hand palm up on the table. “Yes or no?”

“Yes. Thank you.” Neil slipped his hand into Andrew’s. 

He felt a shiver go through Andrew at the brush of his half-frozen fingers. Before he could draw back, Andrew curled their fingers together firmly. “Kevin won’t be happy if you come back from here even more useless,” he said.

“I’ll be more careful tomorrow,” Neil promised. He tucked the fingers of his other hand under his thigh. “Did you like it at all?”

“It was cold,” Andrew said.

“And you don’t like the cold,” Neil said. Andrew hadn’t said so explicitly, but now that Neil thought back on it, he realized Andrew had been avoiding the outdoors ever since winter had set in. “We could have gone somewhere else.”

Andrew’s eyes flickered to him again. “I’d never seen snow before.” 

Neil could read between the lines: Andrew had wanted to see the snow. He smiled and gripped Andrew’s fingers a bit tighter. “Do you want to go for a drive through the mountains tomorrow?”

“You’ll miss skiing.” When Andrew pulled his hand back, Neil released him easily. “Are you sure you can separate yourself from your new obsession?”

“I’ll manage.”

The restaurant did have ice cream, it turned out.

 

* * *

 

It was a whole different world under the mountain of covers on their bed. Andrew’s pale skin looked almost bronze in light filtered through cream sheets. But Andrew kissed him just the same, pushing him into the bed with the firm press of his mouth. 

Neil threaded their fingers together where Andrew held his hands against the mattress. “You’re really warm,” he told him before kissing a line down his neck.

“You’re still cold,” Andrew replied through gritted teeth. Neil moaned softly when he rolled their hips together. “I’m not helping tomorrow if you freeze again.”

“I won’t be getting cold, remember?” Neil arched his back a little when Andrew kissed him again. “We’re going for a drive.”

“I haven’t said yes yet.” Andrew freed one hand to reach down between them. Neil’s second moan wasn’t as soft.

“Will you?” Neil asked breathlessly.

Andrew’s hand wrapped around him. “Yes,” he said.

 

* * *

 

The next day, they went for the drive. Andrew kept the heater in the Maserati blasting the entire time. Neil’s palm was sweaty where it was pressed against Andrew’s between their seats. He thought about Allison and her ideas about romance.

“I like this,” he told Andrew, looking out at the mountains. “We should come back some time.” 

Andrew drove only slightly more slowly than usual, to account for the ice. For a while, he didn’t answer, eyes intent on the road. 

“In the summer,” he said eventually. The tips of his fingers dug into the back of Neil’s hand. “I refuse to come back if it’s not summer.”

**Author's Note:**

> Andrew pushing Kevin and Neil off the lift; Kevin and Neil being extra worried about skiing; and Matt and Dan using the trip to spend time together and talk about their relationship are all ideas from Nora's extra tumblr content. The rest is me!
> 
> You can find me on [Tumblr](http://sunrise-and-death.tumblr.com).


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